The present invention relates generally to toy vehicles and, more particularly, to a toy vehicle having wheels which may be folded to a horizontal position under the vehicle by squeezing a hand grip.
In the past, various ways have been devised for the purpose of folding wheels under different types of vehicles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,340 issued to Wasservogel on Oct. 28, 1980 discloses an adapting fitting used to position wheels under a trailer. A complicated mounting used to move the wheels of a vehicle from a vertical to a horizontal position is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,886,338 issued to French on May 12, 1959. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 2,018,527 issued to Kerr on Oct. 22, 1935 shows how the wheels of a cart can be folded under the cart by removing locking pins.
None of the above patents discloses a simple, self-contained mechanism which may be used for the purpose of moving the wheels of a toy vehicle to a horizontal position, and allows the wheels at just one side of the vehicle to be folded. A mechanism using a hand grip could be easily operated by a child during play in order to fold the wheels of a toy. Accordingly, there is a need in the toy manufacturing arts for such a toy vehicle having wheels which may be folded to a horizontal position under the vehicle by squeezing a hand grip.